1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic devices and more particularly to communications between devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many systems include paired devices that support communications in view of a desired result. For example, computers often are paired with printers and scanners, wireless headsets are paired with cell phones or landline phones, etc. Typically, such pairing occurs through an established protocol or set of connection procedures. Traditionally, communications to establish such pairing is by way of a wired or wireless communication medium.
Among other systems that have paired devices, user gaming devices are fairly well known. These devices include game consoles with communicatively coupled controllers such as Nintendo game consoles, Sony game consoles, Microsoft game consoles, and various other game console devices. These game consoles couple to a television, may couple to an audio system, and support user game playing. Some of these game consoles support wireless communications with handheld game controllers and/or other game controllers. For example, the Nintendo Wii includes handheld controllers that detect their orientation to some degree, acceleration to some degree, and receive standard button inputs from a user. This information is wirelessly relayed to the game console of the video game system to control operation of corresponding game elements within the gaming environment. Other game controllers may include simulated game devices such as musical instruments, baseball bats, golf clubs, and various other types of similar devices.
With the continued advancement of technology, the complexities and capabilities of game consoles have become advanced. The game controllers support sophisticated gaming inputs received via numerous input sources, e.g., buttons, accelerometers, IR orientation detectors, positional detectors, and various other gaming inputs to create game data. The gaming environment in which these gaming inputs are received is very complex, providing a realistic experience for a user of the gaming device/console. While some games supported by a game controller and/or console may receive only a few gaming inputs, other games require a large number of gaming inputs.
Game consoles support games that are software controlled. Sometimes game controllers are specific to the particular game being supported, e.g., Guitar Hero™, Rock Star™, and various other particular types of games. In such case, game controllers support specific types of inputs. The expense and complexity of the multiple game controllers can be overwhelming for some users from a cost standpoint.
The game controllers are typically battery controlled. Thus, battery life is often a major consideration with the game controllers, especially when a game being played requires multiple game controllers for a single player. Further, when the game being played requires multiple controllers, even when one of the game controllers has a wireless link to a game console, the other game controller typically includes a wired link to the first game controller. Such wired link between jointly used game controllers is inconvenient and can interfere with game motions. Additionally, communication devices are often paired with each other to exchange data. For example, a Bluetooth link may be used to transmit data from one cell phone to another.